4 Days in Burlington...7 breweries, incredible weather...and lots of fun!

 

Originally, we had booked a 4 day trip to Burlington, VT in October 2020.  Well, given that we live in New York, that clearly wasn't happening due to COVID restrictions, and we rebooked for Lake Placid instead and had an awesome time (go back 12 blogs to read about that trip😸)

Fast forward to March 2022 and we decided to book a trip for fall "Leaf-Peeper" season in Burlington.  The price of our hotel had quadrupled...and we could get a much better deal by going Nov. 1 instead of October.  We booked-fully understanding that it was "Stick Season" (only sticks on the trees) when many businesses close down so that they can rest before Ski Season.  We also knew that there was a good chance of snow in November-we chose to just book and see what happened.

What happened was glorious, perfect weather.  Tuesday was a bit cloudy (day of arrival), but the rest of the days were blue sky, sun, and high 60's to 70's.  The weather did influence how we did our trip-but most of what we did could have happened no matter the weather.

We left home about 9AM, and headed for the Essex Ferry.  There are 3 ferries across Lake Champlain, the northernmost ferry was too far out of our way, and the Burlington ferry is closed for the season.  On the way we wanted to stop for lunch somewhere.  Good luck...we were literally driving in the middle of the woods of the Adirondack Mountains-and we saw nothing but trees.  It was gorgeous-but remote!!  Eventually we saw a sign for a place called Full Belly.  We decided to give it a try.  It was actually delicious.  It's a deli-but they make homemade soups, and have a large selection of food to order and eat at tables in the other room.  No table service-but this worked out just fine.  Everything was delicious!

Full Belly Wevertown, NY

We got to the ferry for the 1:30 crossing.  Crossings are on the half hour only during this time of year.  I was surprised that there were a lot of cars on this ferry!  I remembered from my childhood getting out of my car and hanging out watching the water-but no one did that 😒, so I stayed in the car.  Guess people just don't want to have fun anymore!!🙎

The ferry crossing was about 20 minutes.  No rain, but a cloudy day.  We got to Burlington and checked into our hotel about 3:00.

We stayed at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain.   High end, amazing views of the lake. We really liked this hotel, its location, and its views. Room 715 was terrific for those views.  It was not cheap-but we were happy we had chosen to stay at this hotel in Burlington. 

Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains thru hotel window

We planned to walk to dinner, and wanted to check out the Church Street Marketplace.  The clouds were rolling in, and we thought it would be best to walk around that area before dinner.  Many places closed between 5 and 6 at this time of year-so that was a good plan. The area is super cute, lots of very trendy little stores that sell merchandise from other countries to support their cultures. The church itself is at the end of the street-and there is no traffic allowed on the 3 block  walkway.  Lots of sparkly lights-a nice area. 

Dinner was at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth.   A friend had told us about it before we left, and truthfully I was questioning why we would go to a pizza place while we were in a city with amazing dining choices.  When we got there, everyone was super friendly.  The place was very busy-and we certainly understood why!!  We found out from our server that American Flatbread is actually a brewery~~which was one of the main reasons that we had decided to visit Burlington. The Helles and The Pacific Cooler ended up being our favorite beers of the entire trip! The pizza was delicious.  One of my absolute favorite parts of eating here was that we were able to contribute to 2 worthy organizations by buying a large, "Bee the Pollen" Pizza.  We "gave" $3.50 to an organization to provide bikes to people in Burlington to assist with transportation.  We also donated a portion of our pizza costs to the pollinators who are trying to make sure the bees don't die out.  

Bee the Pollen Pizza was amazing!

One of the best parts of visiting Burlington was that this area is so giving to so many organizations.  We really like it when businesses give back to others.  It was planned, and obvious that this routine is honored in Burlington!  

Back when we booked this trip I checked out what was happening at The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.  It just happened to be a cover band of Abba  from a group from the UK.  They were AMAZING, and our 3rd row seats were excellent.  The building was built in 1930.  The Art Deco styled theater started with Vaudeville performances back in the day!  Such an exciting ending to our first partial day in Burlington.

But, not to be outdone-the moon from our hotel room window was spectacular that night!!!

Moon over Lake Champlain

The next day was our first full day in Burlington...and a full day it was.  We started with an amazing breakfast at the hotel. We were going to walk that day on the Burlington Bike Path down to the South End to explore the breweries down there.  We went down to the Lake to pick it up-and walked a bit North just to see the views, as the views of the Lake are much better heading north. Going South it has the name Rail Trail...but it is basically the same pathway.  It was an amazing day with perfect blue skies.  I'm glad I wasn't walking alone-as some parts of this trail are really away from sight of others, along the tracks.  We had no problems-but glad I wasn't alone. Going north would be fine to go alone.

Rail Trail

Lake Champlain

We hopped off at Flynn Ave. in Oakledge Park, heading to Zero Gravity which opens at 8AM (it was about 10:00) Nothing like an 8AM beer...it's 5:00 somewhere!!!  😆 Unfortunately, on that particular day there was a water main break, and Zero Gravity was never able to open at all.  😞  

We stopped in at Lake Champlain Chocolate Company.  It was right near Zero Gravity-but not affected by the water main break.  I wish they had done some tastings-but we bought some to taste later. 

We continued walking and visited the World's Tallest File Cabinet.  Yup-apparently that is a thing!!  It was kind of cool, and worth a 3 minute stop to take a picture and say that you saw it!!  Beautiful blue sky made a special picture!

World's Tallest File Cabinet

It was about lunch time by then, so we went to Burlington Beer Company for tasting and lunch.  The place is new and spectacular!!  So open, modern, and sunny.  There is a cute, sunny little alcove with tables to stand at during the bar times.  The beer was good.  They don't do flights-but do half pours.  We were so excited about half pours, and wish we had them in our area.  We found them quite a few places in the Burlington area. The lunch was good-fairly typical bar food. 

Burlington Beer Company

Next, we walked to Switchback Brewery.  This is directly behind BBC in the same parking area.  The place is super cute, they have dogs wandering around in coats,  and the servers are friendly.  We weren't really a huge fan of the beers.  They do some smoked beers-which we chose not to try. Played a few games of Uno while we were here!!

Switchback Brewery

Switchback Dog

We continued walking.  Tried Zero again (still closed), so went directly across the street to Queen City Brewery-and found that it was open.  Weird, as the pizza place connected to them had to close, but they stayed open!  This brewery was fun. We tried 4, then had a glass of a different one.  We liked everything we tried.  

Queen City Brewery

From there we walked back to our hotel, but on the street this time for different views.  At one point we discussed taking Uber back-but we were still doing fine, so continued to just walk back.  In all we walked about 10 miles on Wednesday. 

We saw a delightful sunset over the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain from our room, then walked to our dinner at Leunig's Bistro.  I made reservations once I figured out about what time we were going to eat.  Nice place right on Church Street Marketplace, and our food was delicious.

Sunset over Lake Champlain thru hotel window

After dinner we enjoyed the hot tub at the hotel for relaxing after all of that walking.  The manager Josh had sent Prosecco and Charcuterie to our room that night while we were at dinner...such a lovely touch!!

Prosecco and Charcuterie...thanks Josh!

Hotel pool and hot tub

Thursday morning we again had breakfast at the hotel.  This day was a driving day to Waterbury and Stowe.  Another blue sky, sunny day about 70 degrees!!  We had made a reservation a week earlier for a tour at Ben & Jerry's.  Many years ago we went with our kids and had fun-so we were recreating that time!!  It was OK.  We had a couple tastings on our tour, but decided not to even buy any full size ice cream.  They felt a little "standoffish"- and would only allow people into the Gift Shop if they booked a tour.  Weird policy-but luckily we had booked the tour.  Really, my favorite part was the Graveyard where they had tombstones depicting the flavors no longer in circulation.

Ben and Jerry's Graveyard

Next we visited Cabot Farm Store Creamery.  Lots and lots of tastings.  We tried a few (we had lunch planned still), and bought a lot!  The store had only a couple other people in it.  The very sweet woman told us that pre-COVID they did a lot more samples, and people were packed in there.  She said people have complained that the samples haven't all returned-but truthfully, we were happy it was the way it was.  We travel mid-week for a specific reason-no crowds, amazing service!

Cabot

Lunch was at Prohibition Pig, Pro Pig by those who know!!  A small bar-with a huge outdoor space.   They are working on reduced hours-but we knew they were open Thursdays for lunch-one of the reasons we chose to come here on Thursday.  They didn't have flights-but they did have half pours.  This place is kind of out of the way-but there was a pretty good sized group there for lunch, so people do like to go there. 

Pro Pig

From Waterbury we drove on to Stowe.  Our friend wanted us to go to Alchemist Brewery to pick up some beer for him.  Their beer can not be distributed in New York.  The inside space is extremely new-just opened with a soft opening the week before we arrived, and they told us they were packed!  Before this they had an outdoor patio, and lots of people used the drive thru by ordering ahead.   This was our favorite brewery in terms of beauty, and the stuff going on in there.  We sat about 5 feet away from the canning process, and were totally entertained.  This is another place that pays it forward and contributes to others.  According to the sign, everyone is paid a living wage-so all tips are combined and sent to one of 13 organizations throughout the year.  So happy to see the generosity.  We bought beer for our friend, as well as us.  Obviously, with a car that was much easier than the day we were walking!!!

Alchemist Brewery

Next stop was Trapp Family Lodge.  So elite...$15 per person to walk the trails, and no parking unless you are a guest.  I definitely understand-but we parked for 3 minutes so we could look at the view of the mountains (spectacular), and see what the Lodge looked like. I'm curious if people actually pay...I bet the trails were lovely, but we really didn't have time for any hiking.

View from Trapp Family Lodge

Our last stop before leaving was Von Trapp Brewing.  We really loved this place!  Our server was super chatty, and tossed us another 6 oz pour of his favorite Dunkel on him!  We tried Oktoberfest and  Stowe Style Kolsch also in the 6 oz size (similar to a half-pour, but that would have been 8 ounces).  We ended up buying Oktoberfest...and the Dunkel he had us try, so that worked out!!

Von Trapp Brewing

We returned to our hotel for another amazing sunset.  Dinner that night was at The Gryphon.  On the way driving back to Burlington I tried to make reservations with Open Table, and they were "booked".  I called the restaurant to ask-and they gave us a reservation.  Travel tip...if Open Table is booked, call the restaurant directly.   The place is super small-likely why they did not have availability.  The Vineyard Chowder was amazing!

Sunset over Lake Champlain thru hotel window

Vineyard Chowder The Gryphon

Another hot tub night was in the plans!!  Wanted to make it to Foam Brewers, which was right near our hotel...but we were tired from the long day!  Next trip we'll pick up Foam as well as Zero Gravity.

Friday we sadly had to leave.  We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel again.  We drove from Burlington down to Brandon, VT to visit with my friend of 58 years, and her brother.  We had a delicious lunch at Mae's Place...Quintessential Vermont.  

Brandon, VT

Such a wonderful trip, to a beautiful area!  The weather certainly was a factor in our fun, but we liked the whole vibe of Burlington. Do not be afraid of traveling during Stick Season.  You might be lucky enough to get fabulous weather-but we did not find things were as closed as we thought they might be.  Hours/days are limited-but checking prior to arrival and getting a rough plan of days to visit will be helpful.  If you are traveling on the weekend, you should find most places are open. There will be more people out and about if that is your thing!

The people of Burlington is what makes it such a generous, feel-good place. Randomly when we met people they wanted to chat with us, told us their name, etc. We met "Kim" when walking north on the Bike Path and she walked along with us and told us so much information about the area.   We met "Bill" at The Flynn-and he wanted us to meet him for a beer the next day when we told him we were going to Queen City Brewery.  I think we might have just missed him-as he had to go after work.  We felt welcome in the area by the locals!

Just a mention of taxes in Burlington.  City Tax 2%, State Food Tax (prepared, restaurant) 9%, Alcohol Tax 10%.  It makes going out to dinner a highly taxed venture...but I'm actually OK with that.  As a consumer I get to choose to either stay home and cook-or go out and have someone else cook.  Grocery food is not taxed. I also don't have a problem with the tax on alcohol-it's a want, not a need.

All places underlined and in italics  were reviewed by me on Trip Advisor for more specific details of each place.